You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

CNN is reporting Benazir Bhutto has died from injuries received from a terrorist bomb attack:

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has died, according to media reports. Bhutto's husband was quoted by Pakistan's GEO TV as saying she suffered a bullet wound to her neck after a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 supporters at a rally today. developing story

The attack has left at least 14 dead and 40 injured, Tariq Azim Khan, the country's former information minister, told CNN in a telephone interview.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari told CNN affiliate Geo TV that his wife was shot in the neck in the attack.

The attacker is said to have detonated a bomb as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.

Bhutto is said to have been leaving the rally when the attack occurred and was taken to a hospital in an unconcious state, the Geo TV report said.

The Associated Press reports Bhutto died at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack:

A senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, confirmed that Bhutto had died.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting "Dog, Musharraf, dog," referring to Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf. Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears.

Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was entering her vehicle, and then the bomber blew himself up, FOX News has confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal reports Bhutto met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai before the rally at which she was attacked:

Before the rally, Ms. Bhutto had met with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the end of his two-day visit here and told him that if she is elected prime minister she will work with him to fight terror. "We, too, believe that it is essential for both of our countries, and indeed the larger Muslim world, to work to protect the interest of Islamic civilization by eliminating extremism and terrorism," she said after their meeting.

This September article from Sky News reminds us why the Bhutto assassination is a setback in the War Against Islamic Extremists:

She matters because she is on the joint Pakistani election ticket which is being backed by the US (and apparently by Britain too). And she matters because at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any Plan B if this doesn't work out.